Here we go...

I know I've been pretty absent lately...I'm still working on getting settled into the new "normal" of my life I suppose.  I thought I'd share a few things going on in my life that have made me happy recently:

I'm excited to say I've signed up for my first race of the year!  I hadn't had time or desire to race earlier this year, but I've gotten the itch again so I went out searching for races.  I found a 5K close to home and will be making my 2012 racing debut this coming weekend!  I miss training for something, so I'm sure I'll be back up and running more races in no time!  I've got my eye on a few distance races in the fall and I can't wait! 

John says I'm trying to kill him because I've gotten him out running with me again...I love our running dates! 

John and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary last Monday.  To celebrate we took off on a cruise to the Bahamas.  It was beautiful.  

I think we've figured out a way to live there...we just need to get some winnings in from the lottery so we can make our little business venture work out right now!

I was a little late on the Hunger Games trilogy, but I've really enjoyed getting lost in the little world of Panem.  LOVED the books and the movie...all while reading on my new Kindle that my hubs got me as the paper gift for our first anniversary!  Now I'm just a little sad all the books are over and need to find a new book...any suggestions??

I have been working on getting our house spruced up.  So I got a few items and rearranged and made the entry way look so much better!  

I'm happy we've been house hunting and finding some houses we like.  Now, if only the owners of the houses would let us buy them for the price we want...that's TBD, but we're going to give it a shot!  I love house hunting!

I have some pretty awesome friends and they make me happy too!  Lots of fun things planned in the near future with some of my favorites.

Plus...a trip to a great city with a few amazing girlfriends!

Starting off Mondays with Happy Thoughts is a good way to begin.  I might try this from now on!

A Happy Run

Last night I decided to go out for a little run.  

I did not feel like running, but needed to get in a training run...I do have a race coming up.  

The weather was warm, low 80's or so, which I throughly enjoy during most life activities, but presents a bit of a challenge while running for me. 

I told myself to do 3 laps around the lake...3.48 miles and stop if I didn't want to keep going.  

I got to my third lap and decided I had a little more in me, so I decided to go to 4 miles, stop for water and do a loop around a part of the neighborhood that I thought was a mile, I was wrong, but that was actually ok...  

I passed 5 miles, near my house, but then I decided I'd just run a 10k...and I finished in 57:08.  

I felt like I was going slow. I didn't really check my pace because I wore John's Garmin and it isn't set up like mine and finding this out made me quite happy!  It's not quite my goal pace for my next half marathon, but it's pretty darn close...just a few seconds per mile off that pace to beat a 2 hour half.  

Maybe I'll get my sub 2 half this spring afterall!

Holiday Freak Streak

Week 1 is completed for the Holiday Freak Streak.  I've been very busy but, I have gotten out there for at least 1 mile per day...some very slow, easy miles and some speedy miles. The challenge is doing it's job...getting me out there to exercise, even for a few minutes.

Day 1: 3 miles
Day 2: 1.16 miles
Day 3: 2 miles
Day 4: 1.16 miles
Day 5: 3.1 miles
Day 6: 1 mile
Day 7: 4 miles

How do you keep in shape during the busy Christmas season?

Holiday Freak Streak!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend!  Mine was productive and time well spent with family.  I was so not ready to go back to work yesterday!  We painted the entire house minus the master bath over the long weekend.  I think it would have pushed us over the edge if we painted one more wall, but the color looks nice for selling a house.  I'm pretty impressed that John and I alone completed our house in just two days...that's an accomplishment for ya!

With the holidays coming up, I'm sure I'm not the only one that gets busier and eats a bit more junk food.  It's just too good to pass up!  This year, a couple of my friends and I are doing a running challenge!

It was inspired by Runner's World's challenge, but we didn't see it until yesterday so we made our own official challenge (see, we have a poster).  It starts December 1 to January 1, (2012 ahh!) and we will be running at least one mile, hopefully more, every day.  Even the busiest person can find time to squeeze in one mile a day!  We're hoping this challenge will give us the motivation to keep moving through the holidays.  One of my friends, Krystal, is the most motivated runner I know, so I'm sure she'll be kicking my butt if I try to slack!  Let me know if you'll be joining in and we'll keep each other motivated through this busy and fun time of year!

Savannah Half Marathon

This was the first of the Rock n Roll series races I've done.  I've always heard awesome things about them, so I definitely wanted to get in on one.  We had originally planned on picking up our packets on Friday, but John had changed projects and is in the busy stages of a new, big building starting to go up, so, we didn't leave until around 5 on Friday to head up to Savannah.  I knew this ahead of time, so after initially freaking out about not getting our packets at the expo, I called and they said we could pick it up the morning of the race.

We got into town around 10, got checked into our hotel and got everything ready for the next day.  We were asleep by 11.  The alarm went off at 5:30.  We got dressed, ate some food and went to pick up our packets, giving us enough time to walk back to the hotel and to the start by 7.  We were lucky enough to be less than 1/2 a mile from the start.  They only gave us our race numbers before the race and told us to pick up the rest after the race.

We eventually got in the corral and waited for the race to start.  The national anthem started was sung a few minutes before the race start, accompanied by "I Love Rock and Roll", but they finally got it together and knocked off the background music.

I was representing the Disney Marathon.  I wish I had another shirt I love so much to run it, but they give out a comfy shirt!

About 20 minutes after the start, we were off!

Brothers

Go Robin!

We started out running over an overpass, through some sides roads, and then through some neighborhoods.  The residents in this area really came out to cheer!  They were all happy yelling 'good mornings' and clapping for us!  It was pretty fun.  Then we had a bit of time where we were running through industrial areas.  We were keeping at a 10:00/mile since none of us were sure how we'd do that day.  We were feeling pretty good.  Around mile 6-7 we had to make a pit stop to the port-o-pots and then we were on the road again.  

I believe it was around mile 8, we started getting a little more into the downtown area of Savannah and there were crowds everywhere.  It was great and made me want to punch people all at the same time.  I enjoy the crowds cheering.  Love it.  Need the motivation.  And I know watching a endurance running race isn't that exciting for those who aren't passionate about it, but get off the course!  There were people way off the curbs causing us to have to go through bottlenecks every so often.  It annoyed me.  I feel that there should have been race officials making sure people stayed off the course. Disappointed.  Rant over.

I had a side cramp starting at mile 8 and became ridiculously crippling between 10 & 11.  Robin and I fell back from the guys because she was also battling a side cramp and walked a little.  I'm pretty sure it was where we were running in the roads and the slant because they were both right side cramps under the ribs.  Haven't had one of those in forever!

Somehow going through mile 12, the cramp disappeared and I sprinted out the last .2 miles.

I thought the half race course was pretty good. It is in a pretty city, but you don't go through it as much as I expected we would.  The course was pretty flat.  There were a few elevation changes, but I didn't think they were too bad at all.  I would probably rate the race a B+.  I'm not sure if I would do it again there, but I had an enjoyable experience.

Say It, Do It

I saw this idea on Fit Chick in the City, so I figured it would probably be a good idea to join in!  It's basically the planning out of your workouts for the week and hopefully saying it out loud and planning it out will help with the follow through.  Here goes.

Monday: 5 x 1000m @ 5k pace with 200 recovery job between each interval.  Abs.
Tuesday: Biceps, back and legs. 2-3 mile run, slow.  Abs.
Wednesday: Tri's and shoulders.  4 miles, hills (read: overpass, it's Florida)
Thursday: ~15 mile bike ride. Abs.
Friday/Saturday: Rest one day, 10 mile run the other day.
Sunday: REST

There you have it.  I'll give an honest report next week on how it all shook out!

♥ Good run days!

So yesterday, I trekked off to the gym with the feeling that I might have the energy for a 4 miles speed workout with some bicep work added in.  Maybe even 6 miles if I got lucky, but in my head, that was pushing it.  The work out was a descending ladder, 1200 (optional 1200) 1000 800 (optional 800) 600 400 (optional 400).  The 1200 and 800 were to be at a 10k pace and the rest at a 5k pace.  Here's what I did:

1.25 mile warm up
1200 in 6:00
3 min RI

1200 in 6:00

3 min RI

1000 in 4:49

2 min RI

800 in 3:58

2 min RI

800 in 4:00

2 min RI

600 in 2:56

2 min RI

400 in 1:56

2 min RI

400 in 1:53

2 min RI

400 in 1:51

2 min RI

400 in 1:43

2 min RI

.75 mile cool down

Total: 8 miles

And it felt so good...

So good, I added those extra 400's.  So good, I got in 8 miles on a speed work day!

Then I did some abs and left.

I'm going to start keeping a work out journal of sorts.  I bought a composition notebook and I am going to try to write down all of my work outs.  Like, everything I do.  I feel that if I have to write it all down, I can at least guilt myself into pushing harder.  Meaning, if I get mad because I'm not seeing results, then all I have to do is look back on my work outs.  If I've put the time in, maybe I need to figure something else out.  If I haven't put the time in, I can only blame myself.  Hopefully it's a good motivator...

Oh, and it's pretty.  So that's fun...

Like how I added in a Gators sticker in there?  It is football season peeps!

In other news...

I dyed my hair brown the other day.  I was working on growing out my highlights, but I felt like my hair kind of looked like a mess, so a couple of friends went with me to pick out a color that matched my roots best.  (Apparently my hair is still considered blonde, just dark blonde? Whatever, it looks brown to me.)  I think they did a pretty good job picking the color.  I don't know how long it's been since I've seen my natural hair color, but it's been years.  Maybe almost a decade now.  Agh!  So, one day soon I'll show you a picture.  I feel like my hair is looking like a hot mess today and being totally uncooperative.  So it's pinned and tied back.  Maybe tomorrow!

I love long weekends and the weeks that follow them.  It's Wednesday already!  Woo hoo!  

Did you have a good run yesterday?

What do you do to hold yourself accountable with your workouts?

I'll leave you with some Lily enjoying her new dog bed that's about as big as her ego:

And the verdict is in!

I'm skipping Running Wednesday this week, but it will be back!

Today's workout:

Run 3 miles in 26:46

30 min shoulders and abs

So, as promised, I wore my Old Navy running shorts and here are my thoughts on them:

Pro's:

• lightweight
• comfortable
• cute
• reasonably priced

Con's:

• ride up if they're too big
• the sizes run big

I think the shorts would not ride up if they fit correctly.  The Old Navy shorts fit a bit looser than my Nike Tempo shorts and those shorts do not ride up at all.  We'll see what the ole dryer does for them! 

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I went and saw Captain America last night.  I loved it!  I wasn't much of a Marvel fan ever, but after Iron Man, I was hooked.  I didn't think any of them could top Iron Man, but it did for me...by a hair.  For Captain America they added in some WWII history.  I know most of it was altered to add in the Marvel aspect, but the fact that they used real people from that time period did it for me!  I really enjoyed the movie!  Ladies...even if you don't like the Marvel movies and your man does, there's a bit of eye candy if you join him.  

Happy Wednesday Ladies!

Another weekend...and confession...

Friday night, I was a really awesome wife and cooked a delectable dinner for John (and I).  He LOVES spaghetti.  I could live the rest of my life without ever eating a spaghetti noodle again.  I love pasta...hate spaghetti.  No, it doesn't make any sense...and no I can't explain it, I just hate it.  But, we hadn't spent much time together this week, so we had a little date night and I made us chicken parmesan 

It tasted great...minus the spaghetti.  You can find the recipe I used here.  It was pretty quick, easy, and yummy.

I've been having a lot of trouble getting motivated for long runs during marathon training.  I get my week day speed and tempo runs in all awesome-like, and then the long run comes and I. can't. run.  I realized why I vowed to never, ever, ever run another marathon.  I hated the long runs and how I felt the whole weekend after my long runs.  I mean, don't get me wrong...it feels awesome (to my ego-athletic side) to be able to actually run 20 miles, but I'm then shot the rest of the day...and playing catch up the rest of the week because of it.  So Friday, I decided I to bump myself down to the half marathon.  

I know myself and if I'm already fighting the "long" runs, I'm screwed.  It's not that the 13 miles I was supposed to run makes it a hard, long run...it's the anticipation of those much longer runs.  So...I'm going to be moving myself down to the half.  I can run one of those right now...so my goal will just be speed.  I felt like I didn't want to just give up, but a marathon is no joke and if I'm not all in, I'm going to fail.  Props to those multiple marathoners...I ran one...and one is probably all I want to run. I told John if I get all over-zealous again to take away my credit card - ha.  I won't say never, but I realize it's not something that's working in my life anytime soon.

Saturday morning, we woke up and biked 22 miles instead of the run we were supposed to do, since now the half marathon is the goal.  Biking 22 miles is a breeze compared to running it.  Plus, I'm apparently pretty fast on the bike.  John was totally jealous of my skillz...  Ok, not so much jealous, but I was pushing the pace.  I have an awesome burn line on my back due to the sun-that-hid-through-the-clouds-that-made-me-think-I-didn't-need-sunscreen...what kind of Floridian am I?!  Ugh, it's still painful today.  I'd show you a picture, but the shirt I have on today does not allow for an ideal image of those lines.  I am at work...trying to be a professional here :-)

Saturday night, we had a Harry Potter movie night.  We watched 

and John and I made Harry Potter cupcakes for our friends.  I like to theme things...I'm not that big of a HP fan, although I do enjoy the movies.  We needed to catch the boys up to Part 1, so we can all go see Part 2 this week!

These were my inspiration...from here.

Sunday was a day of fun!  We took the boat out for a while.  It was not so sunny so it wasn't quite as hot as it has been, but it was a beautiful day out with friends.  Then, we went and saw 

I thought it was pretty funny.  That about covers recent evens in my life.

Catch me up on you!

Did you see any movies this weekend?

If so, what?

How were your runs or other workouts?

Have you ever changed your plan part way through training for a race?

Oh Friday, I love you!

This week has felt like it has dragged on f-o-r-e-v-e-r (you gotta say it like The Sandlot did)



 Well, this week has been my first week of training from Run Less Run Faster and it's gone pretty well. I got in all my weights this week, plus my runs...minus the run I have to do this weekend.

I know, 13 miles isn't that far.  But that is my ideal race distance.  It's just so hot and humid...and weekends are sooo good for lazy mornings.

But, Ham told me I have to train...

I told him there was nothing wrong with running like a girl.  Just ask Wendy Peffercorn...

Thanks for handling that Wendy.

Good luck on your training runs this weekend friends!  I'm out!

I miss the fall line up...

Yesterday ended up being an impromptu rest day.  I didn't feel like waking up for the gym and I had dinner plans last night, so rest day it was.  Today I ran my tempo run.  6 miles in 55:54.  The workout was 2 easy, 2 at 8:34, 2 easy.  I pretty much followed the rules...

So, I know it's summer and we're supposed to be outside sweating to death enjoying ourselves, but during the week, after a long days work, I really just want to veg some nights in front of the TV...and right now it just isn't as enjoyable.  I have 3 shows recording right now...The Bachelorette (which I fast forward through half of), Covert Affairs and Burn Notice.  Well, with DVR, that's an evening of TV and I'm done.  Let's just say on my nights at home, Netflix has been getting lots of love...and they're about to be dumped.  So, I've decided to do a tribute to the shows I miss...

For whatever reason, I can't seem to add Grey's or Private Practice...I guess I hated how they both ended last season and with Patrick Dempsy leaving Grey's...well, we've all seen the demise of that show coming for a while...right?  Right.

And let's just observe a moment of silence for a few other gems:

I miss you...

 Only a few more months...right?  September/October...I can do it!

What shows are you excited to see again in the fall?

What shows do you watch repeats of wish were still on TV??

Happy 7Eleven Day!!!

And it's a Happy Birthday day to my bro-in-law David!!!  Doesn't he have the most fun birthday?!
Go visit your local 7Eleven and get free 7.11oz Slurpee!  Yay!!

Today was my first week day MORNING workout in a l.o.n.g. time.  Seriously.  I prepared last night to the point that it would be more of a pain to not go to the gym...and I made it.  Alarm started singing at 4:20...I was up after a snooze sesh and out the door.  I got in some biceps, back, and started a speed work out.  My goal was 3-1mile repeats with 1 mile warm up, one mile cool down.  Not gonna lie...they suck.  But I was determined.  Then, a really good friend I haven't seen in a while came over to chat and I was done...I did get 2 of my 3 mile repeats in, plus the warm up and cool down.  I put in 4.25 miles.  I'll just make up the extra mileage later on this week during my tempo run.  But it felt good to be up and working before work.  Then, I don't have the option to be too tired after work...and there's nothing going on in the morning besides sleep so...might as well...right?

This weekend, among other things, I spent some time catching up on my Harry Potter thanks to ABC Family!  I realized I still haven't seen every movie.  I got a jump on the HP train a bit later than most.  My company built part of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal, so when I started seeing the models and drawings for what we were going to build...I decided I needed to check them out since the detailing was pretty interesting.  I figured there had to be something to those stories.  Come to find out there was and I really like them.  I might try and read the books next.  I remember being in high school still when the first movie came out...my senior year.  I just thought, how crazy that it was going to take 10 years to see all the movies...and here we are...10 years later.

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Are you going to see the final HP movie??

Are you a morning or night work out fan?

Did you participate in any fun activities this weekend?

The One Where I Play Catch Up

Hello!  This week has been a bit of a blur...
Don't short weeks always seem like that?  You blink and they're gone.

Last weekend was a busy, busy weekend.  We ended up being pretty lazy on the actual 4th of July, which happens to be one of my favorite holiday.  We didn't even cook out.  I felt so un-American.  But, I know we needed the rest.  We did shoot off fireworks at our house for a party to celebrate our friends getting married on Sunday night and fortunately, our neighbors lit off some pretty fancy fireworks on Monday, so we had some festivities to enjoy.  John also built us this beautiful planter box last weekend.  We'll have another one soon for vegetables, but this one is for flowers and I love it!

A patio area AND a planter box in one week?!  Yay!

This week has just gone by quickly.  I tried to get in a rhythm but that proved to be useless.  Life is just hectic right now and trying to figure everything out plus getting through all of the regular weekly activities made my week a bit nuts!  I did get to watch 

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It was really cute.  I'd been wanting to see it.  Movie nights are happy!

Speaking of happy...guess who has puppy-fever now?! 

John!

He wants one of these

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Lily tries to break John's spirits for a new puppy, but I think this time, he's going to win.  I'm just along for the ride.  I love puppies!

I will try and be more consistent next week.  Plus, I'm starting a new segment:

Come back next week for the first one!

Oh, and I'm sure you've been worried since I haven't posted about them but...
my workouts have been a bit sketch this week.  I'll post them after I can redeem myself with my long run tomorrow.  Trust me.  It will look much better when I add 14 miles to the workout list haha.  I just wish Florida wasn't so darn hot and humid right now.  I guess I'll be happy about it when we hit another beach or boating weekend.  That will for sure be in 2 weeks!  Oh yea!

Happy Weekend Bloggy Friends!

Last Friday Night...

Yea, I'm rocking out to Katy Perry.  Last Friday Night is my happy song right...
College again? Yes please...

Check out the video for this, it's pretty funny...


Workout:
Last night I ran 10 miles in 1:35:33/9:33 mile pace.  I felt good after the first two miles.  I really was dying the first two; my legs were super tight at first but I got in my groove!

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I'm so, so ready for the weekend.

Tomorrow will be my first ever NASCAR experience.  It was on my bucket list to make it to a NASCAR race once in my life and tomorrow, we're hitting up the Pepsi 400!  I'm excited!  Be ready for some fun pictures next week if I can get them...I hear there are lots of interesting things to see haha.

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Monday=one of my favorite holidays!  The 4th of July should mean so much to every citizen of this country, outside of the fireworks, cookouts and beer.  We're so fortunate to have so many freedoms that other nations still do not have.  I know we're far from perfect, but I'm PROUD to be an American!

Thank a solider for fighting for our freedom!

Confessions, Plans, Future Happiness...or The One Where I Seem to be Slightly Off...

I confess that I haven't posted any workouts since my speed work Monday because I have not worked out since then...

I confess this week has been hard.  I'm over it.  I want to move on.  And that is my excuse as to why I haven't made my workouts.

I confess I am stressed.  It takes me a long time to really feel stressed, but once I do, it's hard for me to handle.

I confess that I appreciate John more this week than I have before.  He is a wonderful man and I need to tell him that more.  And it's not to say that I didn't appreciate him before, my appreciation has just grown.

I confess that I haven't finished reading my book for book club quite yet.  I'm less than 30 pages shy, but hope to have it finished at lunch today.  (I loved the book and can't wait to write about it)

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I still can make the rest of my workouts this week still, it's just going to involve a little readjusting...which I'm ok with.  I just want to stay on my running plan so I do not disappoint myself in my marathon performance.  So, either tonight, hopefully, or tomorrow night, I'll complete my 10 miles and we'll hit up a tempo run on Saturday or Sunday morning=all runs completed.  I'm going to count my removing and replacing sod and carrying heavy-ass-pavers as my cross-training.  I'll take it where I can get it!  Don't judge!

The side yard is done!  We just have some clean up left to do.  I'll share this sorry excuse for a picture to give you an idea...

This quick shot was taken before our 9:30pm dinner last night...

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My weekend happiness in pictures:

I'm out!